


Subtext

by ArghressivePirate



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: 40 lines later, Fluff, HMS Wolfstar, M/M, Marauders' Era, Romance, Teen Romance, stargazers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-01
Updated: 2013-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-04 00:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArghressivePirate/pseuds/ArghressivePirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sirius and Remus’s friendship often strayed into couple like territory. They had both achieved a closeness with each other that neither of them had ever experienced with anyone else, but neither of them was secure enough to define why that was so, at least not aloud. They wished and hoped, but never vocalized." What happens when that changes?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Subtext

“Come on Remus. There’s something I need to ask you,” said Sirius.

He barely gave Remus enough time to gather his things before he twined their hands together and lead him out of the library and towards the more private location of an abandoned classroom.

The gesture didn’t lack implication; so much as neither boy chose to acknowledge it. While hand holding can be completely platonic in certain cases, Sirius had never held anyone’s hand, aside from Remus’s. Sirius’s mother had never taken hold of his hand, not even when guiding him through crowded streets back when he had been younger. He’d certainly never held hands with James or Peter, and not even with any of the girls he’d ever dated. Sirius’s aspirations with the girls had gone far beyond hand holding. He hadn’t seen any point in such a sentimental gesture, especially not when all he really wanted was a casual shag every now and again.

Sirius and Remus’s friendship often strayed into couple like territory. They had both achieved a closeness with each other that neither of them had ever experienced with anyone else, but neither of them was secure enough to define why that was so, at least not aloud. They _wished_ and _hoped_ , but never vocalized. Hand holding was just one of the many carefully ignored couple like aspects of their friendship. Sirius was not a particularly tactile person, at least not with most people, but he found himself constantly looking for any excuse to initiate touch when it came to Remus.

In fact, Remus had lost count of the times Sirius had thrown his arms around him in an affectionate hug, and from the affected casualness of the gesture it was obvious that he was meant to think it was something Sirius did with everyone, even though that couldn’t be any farther from the truth. Still, Remus had never commented on it, since he worried that calling Sirius out on it might cause the affectionate displays to cease. Sirius had secretly wanted to do more, had wanted to kiss Remus, but had learned to content himself with frequent hugs instead. There had been that one time he’d kissed Remus on the cheek while drunk, but they hadn’t discussed it the next morning. 

Sirius would even climb into Remus’s bed occasionally and steal his attention away from whatever book he had been reading, a benefit of sharing a dormitory. These occasions took place when Sirius was worrying over something particularly stressful, or when the insecurities he tried so hard to bury awoke from their dormancy and wrestled control of his brain. In these instances, Sirius would talk his feelings over with Moony, bearing his soul to the other boy, the only person with whom he was comfortable enough to let himself be seen as his weakest point. Remus had the rare talent of knowing when it was best to simply lend an understanding ear, and when Sirius was in need of advice. Sometimes no words would be required of him and the two of them would just cuddle, his continued acceptance of Sirius even after the revelations made in their late night chats a comfort all its own.

Sirius, though not ready to be the first to vocalize the romantic subtext inherent in their friendship, wanted to ensure that things at least continue on as they had been, even after they both graduated. So, when their voyage from the library and down a moving staircase finally ended in the abandoned classroom Sirius had picked out for the conversation he wanted to have, Sirius finally broke the silence that had loomed between the two of them on the way there.

“When I was younger and couldn’t wait to move out of Grimmauld Place, living alone seemed like it would be such a relief. That isn’t the case anymore. Since the school year is almost over, I recently got everything worked out, so that there’ll be a flat ready for me after I graduate,” began Sirius. Here he paused to take a deep breath, almost thinking better of the question he was about to pose. “I’ve got so used to having you around that I don’t know what I’d do without you, so I was wondering if maybe you’d want it to be your flat too? We could, ah, be flat mates?”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” asked Remus. He wanted to verify that he hadn’t misunderstood.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s it exactly! I mean, think about it. . . We’ve shared a dormitory, so we’ve practically been living together already. I know that you’re a morning person, and you know that I’m not. Plus, you know what I’m like to live with, so I don’t have to worry about your opinion of me suddenly changing if we move in together. I’ve even learned how to cook the chocolaty deserts you like so much because—”

Remus’s mouth quirked up into a smile. “You’ve actually thought this through, haven’t you? You set up those baking lessons with the house elves so that you could convince me to move in with you?”

“Yeah. I was trying to figure out how to get you to _want_ to move in with me. I’ve been worried about us going off in separate directions all year. I wanted to give you a _reason_ to want to live with me.”

Remus was confident for the first time about the way Sirius felt about him after his friend’s admission. Sirius had always been reluctant to commit to anyone, so the suggestion that they move in together spoke volumes about his feelings for a Remus in a way that no other statement could. “I don’t need a reason, Sirius. I already have one, you’re my reason.”

Sirius and Remus leaned forward together and shared their first real kiss in all their years of being friends. This wasn’t something they would just shrug off the next day. Their friendship had evolved, finally turning into something more.


End file.
